Popular Music on Screen

Description

"Popular Music on Screen" examines the relationship between popular music and the screen, from the origins of Hollywood musical to contemporary developments in music television and video. Through detailed examination of films, television programmes and popular music, together with analysis of the economic, technological and cultural determinants which impact upon their production and consumption, the book argues that popular music has been incresingly influenced by its visual economy. Though engaging with the debates which surround postmodernism, the book suggests that what most characterizes the relationship between popular music and the screen media is a strong sense of continuity, expressed through institutional structures, representational strategies and the ideology of "entertainment." It looks at music and the development of early sound cinema, the rise of Tin Pan Alley, developments in the British film musical and popular music from the 1930s onwards, the response by Hollywood to the emergence of rock'n'roll and a changing record industry, the development of pop music in British and American television since the 1950s, as well as music video and the music industry.

John Mundy is Head of the Department of Media and Performing Arts, University College, Warrington.